Plea for end to rail disruption

Part of the line was closed during the security operation

The managing director of transport company, Translink, has appealed for an end to disruption on the railways following the latest in a series of security alerts.

Ted Hesketh made the plea at the annual dinner of the Institute of Logistics and Transport on Wednesday night.

The company plans to restore a cross-border rail link on Thursday, which has been closed for the past six days, following reports of explosions near Newry, County Down.

I'm asking those concerned to give the railway staff a break

Tes Hesketh, Translink

About 40 miles of track between Portadown, County Armagh, and Dundalk in County Louth has been closed, with passengers bussed between the locations.

The security forces later found the possible seats of at least three blasts. However, no devices have been found.

Mr Hesketh revealed that during the past 12 months, there had been 32 major security alerts between Belfast and Dublin.

"I'm asking those concerned to give the railway staff a break," he said.

"We have fought very hard and lobbied with the assembly to create the conditions for the re-birth of the railways in Northern Ireland and this is a distraction that we could really do without."

More than 2,000 people were due to travel by train to Dublin on Saturday morning.

The vast majority of them were rugby fans heading to the Ireland Six Nations match against France at Lansdowne Road.

Saturday's security alert came just days after part of the line near Newry, County Down, was closed for five days following several blasts.

The police later said a bomb, containing about 100lbs of home-made explosives, had gone off.

Last June, an explosion damaged the Belfast to Dublin railway line a few miles from Newry.

The dissident republican Real IRA was blamed for that attack.